Welcome to the Spring Leadership Meeting Participants:
On behalf of the four service teams and leaders of large churches around the world we want to say. . .
Welcome to our Spring Leadership Meetings – “Forward by Faith – Dreaming about the Future of our Fellowship.”
These meetings are like none that we have ever had before. They are a global collection of more than 100 leaders whose primary purpose is to discuss the future of our fellowship. This is not be a decision-making time but rather a time of exploration of ideas – a time devoted to identifying consensus on principles we share as we dream about the future of our fellowship.
The planning of this time has been a collaborative effort of all of the service team chairmen and Todd Asaad. We are bringing together seasoned leaders who represent Evangelists, Elders, Teachers and Administrators as well as those devoted to inspiring our teens, campus and singles around the world. HOPE worldwide, Disciples Today and ICOC Hot News will round out the team as we consider our Methods, Mission and Message going forward. We’ve prayed that this will be an experience that will not be quickly forgotten.
For this event we are “Flipping the classroom.” We provided material in advance so that we can spend our time in Dallas primarily in discussions together. The teachers have stepped up in advance of our time together!
Unlike any other gathering, this event requires everyone to prepare before our time together.
- The Teachers have prepared a series of videos on a variety of organizational and biblical topics which we all need to watch.
- The link is: http://www.teachicoc.org/icoc3
- There is also a paper for those interested in “extra credit” – check out this excerpt . . .
- There are three indisputable truths about hierarchy in the Christian religion. First, church hierarchy is nearly always viewed more like a tiered pyramid than an interdependent network, like the human body. That paradigm can be traced to, among other things, the influence of ancient models of civic government. Second, the overreactions to hierarchicalism have never led to sustainable unity, health or growth. And third, there is no official overarching structure or organizational chart that has been sanctioned by Scripture—but we do possess relational and organizing principles. . . .
- Each participant is urged to spend extra time in prayer and fasting to prepare our hearts and appeal to God to guide us in a way that will propel his kingdom forward now and for generations to come.
We are also going to try something else that is unprecedented in our leadership meetings – Tribalism!
Yes, that’s right – we are going to break up into groups for the duration of the meeting and those groups will be called:
The Ten Tribes of Texas
- Each Tribe consist of 10-12 members
- Each Tribe includes men, women, elders, teachers, administrators, large church leaders & specialists
- On average, Tribes will represent at least 6 congregations from 3 continents
- Mornings will be spent listening to messages, concepts and tribal reports
- Afternoons will be spent discussing morning presentations and preparing reports for the following day
- This time will be an incredible opportunity to build the fabric of our global fellowship.
Please note the Tribes list here.
Please watch the videos, do the reading, and most importantly – pray.Pray that God will use our time to:
- Build Brotherhood
- Inspire Trust
- Instill Faith
So that we can stand united and dream faithfully together about the future of our fellowship.
May the Spirit guide us together.
Doug Arthur, Ed Anton, Walter Evans, Tom Briscoe & Todd Asaad